Something There
by romanticangel92
Summary: Samchel. Post 5x06. Sam's POV. Sam finds himself attracted to Rachel after his visit to NYC with Blaine but guilt and unresolved business in Lima keep his feelings from going any further. At least until after graduation when the tension between him and Rachel escalates. Includes Pezberry and Blam friendship.


**Disclaimer: I don't own glee.**

**Author's Note: After watching movin out I had huge Samchel feels. I've cracked shipped them for years and now something may actually happen between them so I felt I had to write something. Don't get me wrong I love Finchel still, they're my OTP always and I will always wish Finn (Cory obviously) had survived so they could get their happy ending. However, I don't think he'd want her to be eternally alone although I think it'll be some time (quite rightly) before anything really happens between Samchel. This is just my take on what could happen.**

*Something There*

_Sam/Rachel_

_Post 5x06, Movin Out_

_Written by RomanticAngel92_

Rachel Berry had never caught Sam Evans's attention in a romantic sense.

She had always just been that annoyingly loud girl in glee club that was like super bossy and demanded everyone's attention. She also wore a _ton_ of animal sweaters and when he says a _ton_, he means a _**ton**_. But on top of all that, Rachel had always just been 'Finn's girl' and as far as he was concerned that made her off limits.

So he had never really bothered to think of her romantically even when he went to prom with her and Mercedes. When he had told her she wasn't his type the first time she'd asked him to prom he had meant it.

Then Finn and Rachel had broken up and shortly afterwards, Finn had died. His friend was gone and Sam had felt a gaping huge hole in his heart where he had been and he could only imagine the hell Rachel was going through. He'd not seen or spoken to her much in the year since she had graduated but even he had been able to notice that she had changed when she had returned for Finn's memorial. She had changed her hair and wore a lot more make up but the thing that had changed the most was her personality. She was no longer so loud, so in-your-face but he put that down to her grieving over the love of her life.

It was months later when Sam and Blaine went to stay with Rachel, Kurt and Santana in their loft in New York.

Sam hadn't known what to expect but he hadn't expected for Rachel to immediately greet him with a warm hug and then take him under her wing when he admitted his true dream of being a model. He had expected her to laugh at him or mock him but she had taken him seriously and been nothing but encouraging.

It had been kind of nice to have someone believe in you the way that she had done and encourage you to go for what you want, no matter how absurd or silly or far-fetched it might have been.

The first time he became aware of his attraction to Rachel had been during the photo shoot she had managed to set up at the loft between him and her funny girl photographer.

One minute he'd been dressing up and doing all sorts of different types of photos from single dad to cow boy to business man and then the next being ordered by Rachel of all people to strip off all his clothes and suddenly being rubbed in oil by the girl herself. While she had been rubbing the oil onto his pecks, the two had made eye contact and there was a charged moment between the two of them.

Sam suddenly found himself wanting to _kiss _Rachel Berry of all people and it had surprised the hell out of him. Where had that come from? And the weird thing was it seemed like she wouldn't have minded it, if he had kissed her that is.

However Finn was not far from Sam's mind and he was able to push the temptation away, feeling slightly guilty for the brief heated moment. Then he had gone to the interview with bitchette and after being told he needed to lose ten pounds, spent the evening refusing to eat more than mentos and air. Rachel had scoffed at him and joined in with the others telling him he didn't need to lose weight, he should just find another agency.

Using the new piano Sam and Blaine had got for the loft crew for letting them stay with them, the group had broke into a performance of Billy Joel's 'just the way you are' and Sam found himself impulsively pulling Rachel to him for a dance.

The song ended and Sam pulled away from Rachel almost as if he'd been burnt. The two looked away from each other, suddenly feeling an awkward tension in the air. He caught the look Santana and the others were shooting them and felt a pang of guilt. This was wrong, he shouldn't be feeling this way about Rachel Berry especially since Finn had died just months ago and he was still sort of seeing the school nurse, Penny.

"So what was going on between you and Rachel?" Blaine had asked him on the flight back to Lima with a knowing look in his brown eyes. Sam had looked at him with surprise in his blue eyes. "You couldn't possibly think that any of us had missed the way you two flirted with each other all week. Do you like her, Sam?"

Sam had looked away, not making eye contact with his best friend. "It's complicated. I mean she probably still misses Finn and I'm sort of seeing Penny"

Blaine had then raised an eyebrow at him. "You mean the school nurse?"

"It's...complicated" the blonde had drawled. "Anyway nothing is happening between me and Rachel. I'd never do that to Finn and Rachel is not ready to move on from him"

"No one's saying anything has to happen with you two today or anytime soon for that matter. Besides I think Finn would want her to be happy with someone he trusted. And Rachel is the only one who can decide when she's ready to move on. Maybe not right now but she will inevitably want to in the future and maybe by then we'll all be in New York going for our dreams"

Sam didn't say anything in response to Blaine but thought back onto their conversations a few times in the coming months. Soon all thoughts of the possibility of anything going on between him and Rachel were pushed to the back of his mind as graduation loomed, nationals came up and drama went down inside of glee club and with his relationship with Penny. He should have known it was doomed from the start and it wasn't long after his return that the two split up after she decided that they weren't right for each other.

Between the love triangles, getting over Penny and rehearsing for nationals, he didn't have much chance to think about the soon-to-be Broadway star until it was the night before graduation when she and Kurt made a surprise trip home just in time to see them graduate the next day.

"Oh I'm so glad that we could come see the two of you graduate!" Rachel gushed over dinner at breadstixs. "And then you'll be with us in New York and everything will be perfect"

Sam saw her smile sadden slightly and just knew she was thinking of Finn. He knew how it was suppose to be – her, Finn and Kurt together in New York and re-engaged to be married while she fulfilled her destiny as a Broadway star. Now that was never going to happen but Sam was determined to make it as great as possible.

"Well I for one can't wait to see what Rachel Berry looks like in the morning" he smiled, thinking of in the few days he'd spent in New York he'd not had the chance to stick around to see her first thing as she had either work, NYADA or Broadway rehearsals.

At his words, Kurt and Blaine seemed to fall silent and raised their eyebrows at them while Rachel smiled brightly and blushed. "Oh it's nothing you'd want to see, trust me, Kurt can tell you that"

"Oh I don't know, princess, I think you look surprisingly good for a girl that' just gotten out of bed" Kurt chimed in, his voice breezy and light while smirking at his fiancé who was giving Sam a smug look that reminded him of their conversation on the plane, making him feel kind of awkward.

"Anyway it'll be great to have you with us. I can't wait to see how your modelling goes and maybe you'll be able to come to see one of my shows one night"

"Totally" Sam promised before adding "I think I've found an agency that will sign me without needing me to lose ten pounds. They're not as big as bitchette but they're interested in taking me as I am which is good for me I guess"

"Sam that's amazing" Rachel smiled at him. "I just know that we'll be seeing that handsome smile of yours in magazines all over America someday"

Sam blushed and smiled at her shyly in response to her words, ignoring the look that Blaine was giving to him. Best friend or not, he was going to kill him if he kept acting all smug.

However Blaine was nothing compared to Santana Lopez. As soon as he and Blaine arrived in New York and brought their suitcases into their loft, Santana immediately zoned in on him. "Hey trouty mouth"

Sam glared at her for the use of his nickname. He hated that nickname and she knew it. She smiled at him coyly. "Could I have a word please?"

"What do you want?" he had asked her, still slightly annoyed from the trouty mouth comment as he joined her in her closed off bedroom area. Santana folded her arms and gave him a no-nonsense look that told him he was probably about to be either threatened, blackmailed or both.

"Do you like Rachel?"

His eyes widened in surprise "What?"

"Look, Ken doll, I'm neither blind nor stupid. I saw the serious flirting you two did when you were here last and I got to say that I'm not sure if I like it. You've jumped from relationship to relationship the entire time I've known you. If you want to date Rachel I want to know what your deal is. Are you serious about her or just looking for a fling?"

"I'm not sure how this is any of your business" Sam snapped and Santana's eyes flashed with slight anger.

"It's my business, Magic Mike , because Rachel's my girl despite our history and Finn's not around to protect her from idiots anymore so that's my job. Finn would want me to look out for her and make sure she avoids anymore Jessie's or anymore Brody's because lord knows that Miss Streisand herself couldn't do it"

Sam felt his annoyance vanish at the mention of Finn and felt his heart clench slightly at the memory of his friend. He may like Rachel but he would never betray Finn like that. "Fine, if you want to know the truth here goes. I like Rachel okay? It's surprising because she never used to be my type at all but now something about her just...I don't know how to explain it...just feels natural and that's not happened to me before. But you know what? I'm not going to risk screwing up a great friendship or betraying Finn by making a move on her so I promise you don't have anything to worry about"

Santana's anger also seemed to fade at Sam's response and she gave him an amused look. "Who says you need to make a move on HER, home boy? Trust me I've seen the way she looks at you and I doubt she'd run away if you were to smack one on her. And I don't think you need to be worried about Finn. I think, no I know that he'd prefer it to be you than any other jackass that tries anything with her. Finn liked you, he trusted you and I'm pretty sure wherever he is he'd want you to look after her since he can't"

A lump formed in the aspiring model's throat at the usually harsh Latina's words and he thought of Finn and knew that maybe she was right. Finn wouldn't want Rachel to be alone forever and he'd probably want Sam or one of the guys he knew and trusted to look after her for him. He'd not want either of them to be unhappy out of guilt or fear of betraying his memory. Still, it was hard to not feel guilty when he thought about trying to ask out Rachel. He still kind of felt like he was stealing her away from him even if he was gone.

"You should ask her out" Santana said at last after a few seconds of silence. "It'd actually be kind of perfect" she smirked at him before walking away to join the others in the living room, leaving Sam lost in thought.

It was actually five months later and after seeing Rachel's show that Sam finally got the guts to ask her out on a date. Rachel had smiled a sweet smile at him and agreed. He wanted their first date to be perfect and choose to take her to a fancy restaurant in Manhattan. His modelling was going well and he'd been paid pretty great for his last contract for a men's cologne advert.

He had sat across from her and listened to her talk about how much she adored New York, about NYADA and Kurt and how much she was looking forward to doing her first movie. He was startled when the conversation turned to him but spoke with ease about how his family was doing, how he was sending them some money from his salary from each gig and about how Will and Emma were expecting their first baby.

"Everything seems to be going so well for everyone" Rachel remarked."It's been a tough year but I'm proud of how we've all pulled together and gotten through it"

"I'm proud of you" Sam blurted out, feeling slightly awkward when Rachel looked at him questioningly. "It must have been so hard losing Finn but you carried on and became the star he knew you would be"

The brunette singer gave him a sad smile. "I wanted to make him proud. He wouldn't want me to curl up and hide myself away which is exactly what I wanted to do at first"

Sam gazed into her brown eyes and wondered if it would be too soon to kiss her. He wanted to kiss her even though the topic of the conversation made him feel slightly uncomfortable about it. "He would have wanted you to be happy, Rachel" he said, his voice slightly low.

"I'm happy right now" she admitted and for some reason her words made him feel relieved. He realised he had been somehow worried she wouldn't be happy being out on a date with him, still feeling the pain of losing Finn. Almost as if she had read his mind, she added "I miss Finn more than anything and I will always love him but he...he'd want me to be happy whatever it took. He wouldn't want me to spend my days alone. I'm only 19. If I don't die for another seventy years, that would be a long time to be alone, waiting to see him again. Finn wouldn't want that for me"

"Your right" Sam agreed and they soon changed the subject to less...heavy things with Sam making Rachel laugh with the occasional impression. After dinner was over, the two walked back to the loft hand in hand. As they made it to the door, they stopped and looked at each other before finding themselves kissing for the first time. As her lips brushed his, Sam's heart raced and he was sure he saw his entire future flashing before his eyes, of he and Rachel getting married and having children. He felt slightly shocked at himself but realised that he was quickly falling for former lead singer of the new directions. He could see why Finn was so mad about her. She had a way of making someone feel much better than they actually were and like anything was possible if they put their mind to it. It was a nice feeling.

It was a whole eight months before either of them said I love you. Sam was the first to say it, by accident, over dinner and in front of Kurt, Blaine and Santana as well who all stopped to stare at him in surprise.

"What?" Sam glanced at them as he placed a bowl of salad in front of them at the table and realised everyone was looking at him, including Rachel who'd stopped what she was doing with a bowl of pasta in her hands to stare at him. "Did I say something offensive again?"

"No...Unless Rachel was offended by you saying you loved her" Santana smirked at him while Kurt continued to gape and Blaine started to smile slightly. Sam's cheeks reddened as he realised what he had just said. _"Sam, could you put the salad on the table for me?" "Sure, Rach but only because I love you" _

"Oh..."

Kurt looked between Sam and Rachel incredulously. "Was that the first time you said I love you to her?"

Sam nodded numbly while Rachel began to recover from her shock. "Did you mean that, Sam?"

Well it was too late to take it back now so he might as well admit it. "Yeah, I did"

A slow smile spread on her face, her brown eyes sparkling slightly. "I love you too"

Sam grinned at her with relief before walking towards, pulling her into his arms and smacking a deep kiss on her lips. Kurt rolled his eyes, Blaine politely looked away and Santana blatantly stared with no regard for giving them any privacy. "And Samchel strikes again" she declared interrupting their moment. "At least you'll have pretty children with blonde hair and Jewish noses"

"Cool it, Santana" Sam scowled as he wrapped an arm around Rachel who leant into his chest contentedly.

Santana proved to be right, however. Six years later, Sam and Rachel were married and she shortly gave birth to their first child, a son, whom they named Finn Evans with Sam's blonde hair and Rachel's eyes and nose.


End file.
